No matter what type of skin you have or how old you are, most of us are united in battling one issue: clogged pores.

With environmental factors a main contributing factor (think: toxins in the air, non-comedogenic makeup), clogged pores are a result of dead skin cells getting trapped instead of being shed from the skin’s surface.

Of course there are lots of determining factors as to how visible they are (such as genetics and what your daily skincare regime involves), but generally you can tell if your pores are clogged if you notice whiteheads, blackheads or an overall dullness to your complexion.

Congestion happens. Image: Mean GirlsSource:Whimn

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And seeing as most of us don’t reside in a bubble (and probably touch our faces at some stage during the day transferring oil from our hands to our faces), clogged pores are inevitable.

While there are endless different serums, masks and exfoliants that can help you clear the decks at home, being too vigorous with the scrubbing or overdoing the chemical actives can actually do more harm than good.

And that’s where the Hydrafacial comes in: a resurfacing treatment that simultaneously exfoliates, clears blocked pores and delivers hydrating serums, to make it a quick and efficient one stop shop for improving hyperpigmentation, sun damage and congestion all in under half an hour.

Like a vacuum for your face, it works to exfoliate dead skin cells and rid the skin of excess oil. This vacuum technology creates a vortex effect that dislodges and removes impurities deep into the skin, replacing them with hydrating skin serums filled with antioxidants, peptides and hyaluronic acid.

The procedure, which involves vacuuming the surface of the skin with a soft silicone tip, is performed as a multi-step treatment. First, there is a deep cleanse and exfoliation to remove dead skin cells which includes salicylic and glycolic acid to prepare the pores.

This is followed by a painless extraction of blackheads and whiteheads with the rotating nozzle tip pushing an AHA/BHA solution into the skin and then sucking it up, taking dead skin, blackheads, and other unwelcome pore gunk along with it.

The final step offers rehydration, where hyaluronic acid, peptides and an infusion of antioxidants and essential nutrients is coaxed back into the skin for better penetration.

Best of all? The whole treatment takes 30 minutes with zero downtime. No redness, no irritation, no weird marks, nada.

Aside from laying down for half an hour, potentially the most enjoyable element of the whole experience though is when you’re shown the cloudy water tank post-treatment. Seeing the mix of sebum dirt that had been hiding in your pores is both gross and strangely satisfying (okay, very satisfying.)